A good metalic paint?

[Thorbrand]

Hi everyone

I'm interested to find out what you recommend for a good metalc acrylic paint? I mainly use Revell and Humbrol because they are the ones on offer at my local hobby store. However whilst the colours are quite good i find the metalic silvers and steels to be a little underwhelming.

Any recommendations for a really decent metalic steel and aluminium paint, for brushing not air brushing?

 

[Jens Andrée]

Although I've come to hate the AMMO by Mig brand - and especially for brush painting, I've found the metallic paints behaving quite different.
I've got aluminium and brass and they both brush well, and they look pretty good!
I've not tried to brush a large flat surface, but the details I have painted look better than Tamiyas metallic paints, and I love Tamiya paint. (although I mostly airbrush...)

I'm no expert in any way, but if you fail to find anything then you can try AMMO's aluminium and see how it works for you? AMMO metallic bottles need violent shaking before usage. I'm talking about minutes of vigorous shaking!

 

[Mr Bowcat]

The tamiya x11 chrome silver is pretty good.

 

[m1ks]

Citadel paints from games workshop.
They have the finest metalflake of any metallic I've seen making them ideal for model kits and the 'out of scale' effect that others give.
They also brush better than any acrylic paint I've ever tried.
The colour names are weird being made for the tabletop gamers with fantasy figures but
Mithril silver - Aluminium
Chainmail - Steel
Boltgun metal - Gunmetal
Having said that the names have been changed since I last got my pots, not sure on them all but I think boltgun metal is leadbelcher but if you look at a colour chart online or go into a GW and ask they'll tell you the new names.
They also airbrush nicely when thinned with tamiya x20a but not IPA and water i hit and miss for spraying but a good thinner for brush painting.

 

[yak face]

Having said that the names have been changed since I last got my pots,

Not just the names Mike , theyve changed the formulation too , the new ones are terrible - they brush awfully , patchy and see through ,its as if they are designed only to be used over a suitably coloured base coat. As a single coat brush paint theyre nowhere near as good as the old ones. Try the Revell aqua colours Alex, their metallics brush great with a little thinning with water ,just be careful not to overthin them though. cheers tony

 

[m1ks]

That's a crying shame, not sure what I'll use when mine are empty, I really do like the fine flake and pigmentation.

 

[Airfix Modeller Freak]

Mr Hobby Super Metallic and buffables are some of the best around

 

[John Rixon]

AK true metal is pretty spectacular, imo. plenty of colours, and can be buffed up for a high polish. needs varnish over it though, but brushes on surprisingly well!

 

[Mr Bowcat]

I agree with John about the AK True Metals, didn't mention it in my earlier post as I'm not sure if they are classed as acrylics (wax based)??

 

[John Rixon]

no, not acrylic, but pretty speedy drying, and smells pleasant enough (which is why I mentioned it) and the finish is fantastic!

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Totally agree John (even the smell ).

 

[m1ks]

Not just the names Mike , theyve changed the formulation too , the new ones are terrible - they brush awfully , patchy and see through ,its as if they are designed only to be used over a suitably coloured base coat. As a single coat brush paint theyre nowhere near as good as the old ones. Try the Revell aqua colours Alex, their metallics brush great with a little thinning with water ,just be careful not to overthin them though. cheers tony

I've done a little more digging out of curiosity re the citadel colours, unfortunately what they've done is created lazy paints, their range is now separated into base colours, (thicker, normal paint), layer, (thinned to a glaze consistency), air, (airbrush ready), dry, (drybrushing) and several others, the problem is that all the coulours aren't available in each range and the only metallic in the 'basecoat' range is leadbelcher which I believe is boltgun metal of old, so at least that one should still be ok to use as gunmetal.

 

[yak face]

That explains it , i got a tin of the mithril silver replacement and its see through , nothing like the old one. I thought they would only change the packaging and names but it looks like theyve changed the whole shooting match! What a shame , their old paints used to be so nice , i used to use them a lot after gaining a boxful when my son stopped doing the warhammer figures.

 

[Adrian "Marvel" Reynolds]

I go with Mr Metal Color ( buffable Mr Hobby range ) you can brush or spray them, then you can either leave them as is or buff them to create the effect you want.
I ordered some Model Master Sealer for Metalizer to seal them once buffed as the paint will always come off otherwise.

The only time I use anything else is for Iron Man builds and I use only Alclads for the high shine they give.

Adrian

 

[Thorbrand]

Thanks for all your suggestions, I'm going to get Ak True metals and try out the Revell Aqua colours metalics I think. I'm pretty sure I'll end up using all of them anyway. I'm going to post up some pics soon of the exhausts on my Eurocopter so you can see what I mean when I say the Humbrol metalics are underwhelming, hopefully there will be a notable difference with a better quality product

 

[Thorbrand]

So, I got a bottle of AK Extreme Metal Steel enamel paint and there is definitely a difference, as you can see the first picture is with Humbrol Acrylic Metalic Steel and the second is with the AK Extreme paint and as it comes in a 30ml bottle I think it will last a very long time.

 

[Jens Andrée]

I just bought a new metallic paint that I've just tested and I'm mighty impressed!!!
Nothing I've ever tried before has even come close to this fantastic paint so I felt I had to update this thread with my results!

The paint in question is Ammo by Mig Alclad II Metal.
It's sold under license from Alclad 2 lacquers so it's not a Mig paint - and this is probably why it's so good because it's not an acrylic whatsoever!!!

I didn't know anything about this paint more than I'd read that the Alclad 2 stuff was the bees knees so I ordered without hesitation to give it a go.
In hindsight the thinner/cleaner bottle was a waste of money since it smells like cellulose thinner mixed with something less hostile and I tried to clean my airbrush with both cellulose thinner and isopropanol after spraying and they both worked fine. I've not thinned it though because I didn't see any reason for it.

Here's a cockpit with one thin coat of Mig Alclad II polished aluminium ALC105 and it covered really well and I didn't use any primer at all - just direct on bare plastic and PE - and it stuck like nothing else!
It's a bit translucent though so on parts that I want to be metal I will use the primer but the cockpit was later sprayed with scratches effect and olive drab and it worked really well. I didn't even use varnish before the scratches effect! Good stuff!



I also tried to brush paint the ALC105 polished aluminium paint and it brushed as well as it sprayed. No brush marks because it flows really well.
It's the fastest drying paint I've ever used - even much faster than Tamiya so it was bliss to work with and I will buy other colours like copper, polished brass and chrome next time I order something.

They've also got a black primer with microfiller so you can polish the part prior to paint for those real mirror like surfaces but I only bought the standard primer so I haven't tried that yet.

The only negative thing I've got to say about the Alclad 2 stuff is that it's in glass jars and they're a pain in the a** to pour from... I haven't got any pipettes so I had to wing it.
I suspect the solvents in the paint are too aggressive for some plastics, hence why it's in glass jars?
I will buy some pipettes next time I order to solve the problem.

One more important thing to know: It doesn't like a 0.15mm needle and nozzle but it sprayed like a dream with 0.4mm! They recommend using 0.3mm but it did work with 0.15mm but there was some backflow in the airbrush. I don't know the particle size they use but I don't mind using my 0.4mm setup because it'll mostly be used for larger surfaces anyway.
The paint is super thin, like pure alcohol so be careful with the jars/bottles because if you knock one over it'll be empty in a fraction of a second...

I will discard my other "metallic" paints now because they're nothing compared to this!
That's my view anyway.

I painted on a couple plastic bottles both with and without primer and it looks really well. It's a bit translucent so you better use it on a darker primer, or just use the one they recommend. It sprayed as well as the paint so I'm not complaining. Sadly I was so happy painting away that I forgot to take any pictures apart from the cockpit one, but it works - trust me!

 

[papa 695]

I use the Vallejo Metal Colour, it works just as good as Alclad

 

[colin m]

I just bought a new metallic paint that I've just tested and I'm mighty impressed!!!
Nothing I've ever tried before has even come close to this fantastic paint so I felt I had to update this thread with my results!

The paint in question is Ammo by Mig Alclad II Metal.
It's sold under license from Alclad 2 lacquers so it's not a Mig paint - and this is probably why it's so good because it's not an acrylic whatsoever!!!

I didn't know anything about this paint more than I'd read that the Alclad 2 stuff was the bees knees so I ordered without hesitation to give it a go.
In hindsight the thinner/cleaner bottle was a waste of money since it smells like cellulose thinner mixed with something less hostile and I tried to clean my airbrush with both cellulose thinner and isopropanol after spraying and they both worked fine. I've not thinned it though because I didn't see any reason for it.

Here's a cockpit with one thin coat of Mig Alclad II polished aluminium ALC105 and it covered really well and I didn't use any primer at all - just direct on bare plastic and PE - and it stuck like nothing else!
It's a bit translucent though so on parts that I want to be metal I will use the primer but the cockpit was later sprayed with scratches effect and olive drab and it worked really well. I didn't even use varnish before the scratches effect! Good stuff!

View attachment 292320

I also tried to brush paint the ALC105 polished aluminium paint and it brushed as well as it sprayed. No brush marks because it flows really well.
It's the fastest drying paint I've ever used - even much faster than Tamiya so it was bliss to work with and I will buy other colours like copper, polished brass and chrome next time I order something.

They've also got a black primer with microfiller so you can polish the part prior to paint for those real mirror like surfaces but I only bought the standard primer so I haven't tried that yet.

The only negative thing I've got to say about the Alclad 2 stuff is that it's in glass jars and they're a pain in the a** to pour from... I haven't got any pipettes so I had to wing it.
I suspect the solvents in the paint are too aggressive for some plastics, hence why it's in glass jars?
I will buy some pipettes next time I order to solve the problem.

One more important thing to know: It doesn't like a 0.15mm needle and nozzle but it sprayed like a dream with 0.4mm! They recommend using 0.3mm but it did work with 0.15mm but there was some backflow in the airbrush. I don't know the particle size they use but I don't mind using my 0.4mm setup because it'll mostly be used for larger surfaces anyway.
The paint is super thin, like pure alcohol so be careful with the jars/bottles because if you knock one over it'll be empty in a fraction of a second...

I will discard my other "metallic" paints now because they're nothing compared to this!
That's my view anyway.

I painted on a couple plastic bottles both with and without primer and it looks really well. It's a bit translucent so you better use it on a darker primer, or just use the one they recommend. It sprayed as well as the paint so I'm not complaining. Sadly I was so happy painting away that I forgot to take any pictures apart from the cockpit one, but it works - trust me!
View attachment 292317
View attachment 292318
View attachment 292319

Another convert to Alclad. It is amazing stuff, but pretty harsh. You really need to wear a good quality mask when painting with this stuff. As for cleaning, yes you guessed correctly, cellulose thinners does the job spot on.

 

[Thorbrand]

It seems the better the metalic paint you use the more biohazard gear you need to wear! lol I'm just waiting for metalic paint to come out which has nuclear atoms in and an eerie glow